Open letter to teachers - I need help in implementing the flipped learning

Paraphrasing Sir Ken Robinson on one of his talk in RSA "At the heart of education is teaching and learning" , change in education has to be bottom-up. I believe if we want better education , we need to focus more on the process of "teaching and learning" , which is the reason why students and teachers must be actively involved in education reform.

The reason why I'm still working on this is that the principal and the deputy principal in my school are also very keen on this project. However , after having an appointment with the principal , I was told that some teachers may see this approach as "Americanism" and some may see it as an assumption that they haven't done anything as a teacher so far. It's becoming evident that what we need is a dialogue with the teachers.

Given the fact that I haven't got any experience on flipping a class, I'm looking for teachers(especially those who have tried flipping their classroom) to have a dialogue with a group of teachers in my school who may be interested. You may contact me through my email address and I can direct you to the principal or deputy principal in my school. Implementing the flipped learning wouldn't be possible without your participation, as this is a very important missing part that needs to be pieced.

Sep 13 2013:
Faizul, Look at the TED ED site .... flippedclassroom.org, go to flipped classes on the web and see there are samples of worksheets, lesson plans, FAQs, etc ....

You do not identify a location of where your at or where you teach. That is important as the charge your fellow teachers have leveled at you for proposing "Americanism". In some places that could be the kiss of death for your project and even your career.

You should find a place other than the USA where this was used and succeeded and avoid the examples of the USA using flipped.

It is a shame that those teachers are not interested in the students and the benefits of the program .... instead of embracing a hate for a country. Is that hate also taught to the students?

Sep 18 2013:
Thanks for your time to comment . Am currently am a member in the flippedclassroom.org . After a few discussions , I think the best solution would be an opening discussion with the teachers in my school with wikispace as the platformhttp://ktjflippedlearning.wikispaces.com/Flipped+Learning .

Since my school is an international school , it is less likely that this approach would be seen as "americanism" , however my school principal was just concerned of its possibility. There are a number of learning institutions in Asia and some in Malaysia have started to flip their classes, so I can use that to substantiate my point. Perhaps the best way to resolve this is through dialogue.

Sep 11 2013:
Let me suggest one method of the "flipped learning" from the viewpoint of the students, as well as the teachers.
The most important thing for self learning is the induction of creativity and the enthusiasm of the students in learning. Whatever it is from the students' self motivation or the teachers' encouragement or inducement. I believe that we should alter the format of presenting the teaching material and the following discussion and "homework" as follows:
The teacher should give the material for the next class before the conclusion of the preceding class, and ask the students to study the materials, be it as a video or lesson on paper or on computer media, at home before the next class. Ask the students to study it and treat this as a homework. In the next class, the teacher should answer questions concerning the pre-assigned teaching materials. Then a discussion mainly led by the students will follow; to expand the meaning of the topics or offer some practical use or analogy for the materials just presented. Finally a short "open book" written test will be done in class for all students. This answer sheet will be treated as the homework for the evaluation of what a student has learned from the lesson. This setup would encourage self learning as well as evaluate how the student has learned without any private help from their parents or siblings. During this in-class test, occasional hint can be given by the teachers as long as not a straight answer to the questions asked.
If you think that my suggestion is worthwhile to be pursued, I will be glad to answer any questions here or through email communication.

I couldn't agree more that self learning is the induction of creativity. Because when learning is carried out by self-initiative, it becomes more relevant and meaningful for a person. Or as Daniel Pink would put it as being intrinsically motivated by their autonomy.

We did that in our physics class, except we are given notes on paper since it takes time for the teachers to prepare the video lectures. A number of students don't like the idea due to the fact that many students are used to having teachers teaching in front. So I made agreement with a friend of mine to start an education department in LEO club so that we can start collecting//making video resources for CIE A levels (edexcel for maths) and IGCSE subjects.

I would love to receive an advice from you on making this possible. So I hope you would write it an email :)

Sep 8 2013:
Here is a site consisting entirely of teachers working on flipping their classrooms and using that vocabulary for it. http://flippedclassroom.org/

There are subforums by subject, age of student, and so forth. You might want to look around the site to see if there are international members you might point to as evidence that it is not exclusively an American practice.

Thanks for the link . However,I did post my concerns in the forum on the website , but I haven't got any responses yet, which is why I decided to find some alternative approach. Perhaps I should just wait , or continue searching for help

Sep 8 2013:
Maybe the challenge you face in recruiting teachers to explain a particular pedagogy to your teachers is that teachers typically regard each other as professionals. Without knowing the choices of instructional technique teachers are using and the reason for those choices, most teachers would not presume to waltz in and to tell other teachers that some way is better than what they are doing.

If teachers at your school asked for input, that would be different. I think this message is part of what your administrators were trying to convey to you when you approached them.

If your administrators are actually interested, why would they not introduce this pegagogy to the teachers using TED-Ed materials online as examples, not to persuade the teachers to adopt this new strategy but to launch a discussion of what teachers think are the potential or issues in using these forms of instruction to meet the goals for students your teachers, school, or higher educational administration may have?

Flipped learning, which is to say having students watch lectures at home, may be better than some ways of organizing student education but worse than other ways. Wouldn't it be in your administrators control to launch a broader discussion rather than trying to sell any one way of reaching students?

I think that is a good suggestion to ask the school administrators to try out TED-Ed materials as examples and to launch a discussion on the flipped learning as opposed to the means of direct persuasion. I'll certainly put that into consideration.

Sep 17 2013:
Your struggle as to my perception would be reforming the education system in the class session. Actually, I like when a young ambitious student like you initiated something that will lead for a better or even greater generation in future. But bear in mind, the concerns raised by the teachers in your school can be anticipated as they were not familiar and not being trained into such foreign method. Not to mention to factor in their egos especially when the ideas hailed from a mere student. The scalable decision maker undergo many phases before it reaches all schools in Malaysia. The intricacies which involve in the educational system in Malaysia are formidable.

There are another agency that I presume can aid your plight that is the union it self, NUTP. I believe that your principal, have the right influence to raise your proposal and you can even have a dialogue directly with them. Mind you, they are the epicentre of the recent education blueprint issued by the Ministry. However, before you go directly to NUTP, you need to convince the teachers in your school. Help them to understand or at least choose one class session to be as a test / evidence to gain their trust. Good luck :)